Tag Archives: hiking

Camping, Hiking, My Family

We went camping for Christmas!

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We wanted to do a trial camping trip with our new puppy but wanted to stay pretty close to home in case it went badly.

Osage Hills State Park was a perfect choice!

It was not very far away from our house and is a favorite hiking spot for us.

In fact my oldest went on his first hike there when he was one month old!

There were only a few other people camping so we had a huge area for the kids to play.
Milo did great on his first camping trip and loved hiking!

We saw so many Armadillo that I didn’t even look anymore when one of the kids yelled they saw one.

Ha

While up that way we went to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve.

So many Bison and some beautiful hiking trails!

 

 

We went to see Christmas Lights in Bartlesville at Johnstone Park.

We did a lot of hiking.

And we checked out the Hulah Lake Wildlife Management Area and Wha Sha She Park(used to be state park).

We did not hit the WMA at the best time of day so I did not see much.

And the park was kind of run down with not much there.

They were both in pretty areas though.

We headed home on Christmas Eve after one more hike. I think if I had a tradition for the holidays it would be hiking and camping.

Now I just need to convince my kids to go on a Christmas hike every year…

 

Camping, Parks

Great Salt Plains Trip ~Oklahoma

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We camped at the Great Salt Plains State Park and then went on a crazy long drive through some beautiful country.

Watching the sunset at the Great Salt Plains Wildlife Refuge was on my “bucket list” or it would be if I had written one.
Camping with our 5 kids can be rough but these views make it all worth it.

The next morning we headed west to the Alabaster Caverns State Park.

The drive was beautiful!

The park was very pretty also! I am not a fan of caves so we did not go on the tour but there was a cave you could go inside yourself. I know we followed the bear trail signs but I am not sure of the name of the trail. It went to Owl Cave though. My oldest four love caves.

Next stop was Boiling Springs State Park.

This park was a bit of a dissapointment.

The spring is interesting to read about and the history of the park is interesting but the spring itself was not very impressive.

I was hoping to go on the hike down to the river but it was closed.

If you are in the area it might be an interesting quick stop but I would not plan a trip just to go there.

We went from Boiling Springs all the way to Enid.

Usually we would have stopped at Gloss Mts. State Park because it is one of my favorites but the museum we were going to was going to close soon.

If you make this trip I would recommend stopping at Little Sahara State Park and Gloss Mts. State Park though.

So, something like this.

It would be a way to see a lot of interesting things in Oklahoma.

Our next stop was the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center.

It is a place I have wanted to go for several years.

And we have an Oklahoma Historical Society Membership right now so we can get in for free.

We got there in time to tour the outside village.

The guides were friendly and very knowledgeable about Oklahoma history.

It was a nice museum and I am glad that we went even though it made for a long drive.

We dug for crystals that evening!

Are trips are rarely relaxing.

The girls put up with my crazy picture taking more than the boys… The next morning we let the kids swim at the lake at the park and then went one more time to the crystal digging site.

It was not easy but it was beautiful.

Check out the video I made of our time there.

Camping, Hiking, Parks

Trail of Tears State Park ~Jackson, MO

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On our way home from Indiana, we stopped at the Trail of Tears State Park.

The big plus of the campground at the park is that it was right next to the Missippi River!

The downside was the train track that ran right next to it.

And the train that runs 24/7, it honks it’s horn as it’s going past also…

In the MIDDLE of the night.

Ouch. They did have nice bathrooms and a playground but they were not in the campground but a little ways away from it.

I believe there was a vault type toilet in the campground though.

The Missippi was incredable to see this close up.

It was like a living breathing thing.

So intense.Another bonus of this park was the Museum at the visitors center.

I have become fascinated with learning all I can about early Native American culture and sharing it with the kids.A deadly crossing happened near the park on the Missippi.A trail goes behind the nature center and I was excited to go on it but it ended up being a really narrow trail with a lot of bugs and poison ivy.This was the trail I was using to test out if we wanted to go on a longer hike while at the park and I decided not to.

It is hard to deal with narrow trails that have poison ivy with kids.

They are constantly brushing up against it!

We were pretty excited to be back at the start.

This park does have some pretty views of the Missippi though.This overlook was amazing also.I saw pictures like this when I was looking for places to stay and it convinced me to stop there.

So I was pretty determined to find this deck.

I would like to check out this park again when it is a bit colder so less bugs and maybe the trails are not as close.